I am proud to say that I do not only learn from books but also from experiences. Let’s say, I am a Progressivist at the same time, an Existentialist teacher and as a person: I like to be independent, I like adventures, I like challenges, I like experiences that will mold the totality of me to be able to become a model for the generation to whom I’ll be teaching with.

At first, I was so nervous because from our school and batch, I was the only one who took the Batch 2 during my review. ALL of my batchmates and schoolmates took the Batches 3 and 4. However, such decision never hindered me to LEARN.

Batch 2 composed of tenured teachers, a priest, a nun, Education unit takers, teachers, and A FEW Fresh graduates. I felt the pressure within me. However, I learned to TRUST with myself more.

Despite of the pressures, despite of the problems that I was facing at home and my personal life, I learned to TRUST MYSELF AND PERSEVERED TO MY GOAL: THAT I’M GONNA PASS THE LET AND EVEN EXCEED MY EXPECTATIONS.

How did I do it?

1) I needed to have my dream at the same time as my goal.

I need to be a goal-oriented person and ACT in accordance to achieving it. A very simple sentence but so hard to follow especially if you’re having so many challenges and problems in life during that stage.

2) Find intrinsic and extrinsic motivations

Having an intrinsic motivation helped me to feel more about my goal. When I feel so pressured, I think of my mom’s love for me, and buy a lot of chocolates to still pursue studying and listening, despite of a very cozy and relaxing environment that really pulls me to sleep.

3) Always look at the positive side of things

In every assessments, in everyday of commuting from Makati to Cubao, I actually encounter a lot of hindrances, problems, and all the things that would have made me to stop reviewing in MindGym. But as I step at the orange tiles of the MindGym area signing for my attendance, I would just SMILE and say to myself “Today will be a beautiful day and nothing could ruin it.”

Everything happens for a reason, and I always need to look at the lighter sides of every heavy loads.

4) All of these three actions + Faith = Amazing Results!

Even if we ask God a lot of things, He would actually give us the things that our hearts are silently praying. Always remember that God actually do His part, BUT WE DON’T HAVE TO FORGET TO DO OUR PARTS AS WELL. If our hearts pray for passing and topping the let, well, it will never be enough to just pray. We still have to put actions into that prayer because God will only give us guidance and wisdom, but it would still be us to use His guidance and wisdom in order to be wise in our decisions and priorities for our goal and dream.

These are just the 4 things that I used to pass the LET. I’m not a topnotcher for LET but I just want to share this experience that I had and the LESSONS I LEARNED FOR ME TO HAVE THIS PERSONAL VICTORY.

DREAM. BELIEVE. PRAY. PERSEVERE.

It’s true that being a topnotcher would make a greatest reward after a review, but for me, THE GREATEST REWARD IS HAVING TRUE FRIENDS THAT I FOUND HERE IN MINDGYM, BEING ABLE TO LEARN HOW TO PRIORITIZED AND MANAGED CHALLENGES DESPITE OF MY YOUNG AGE, BEING MORE PRAYERFUL TO GOD, and BEING MORE RESPONSIBLE IN MY ACTIONS IN ORDER FOR MY DREAM TO COME TRUE.

Pearl Rhee Jean Culanag

THIS IS ONE OF THE GREATEST VICTORIES THAT I HAVE. BUT I PROMISED TO MYSELF THAT IT WON’T END HERE. IT WILL NOT FOR AS LONG AS I HAVE MY DREAMS, I WILL HAVE MORE COURAGE FOR ME TO REACH THEM.

THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING OF THE HISTORY OF MY LIFE AS A TEACHER AND AS A PERSON. THIS IS THE VICTORY OF AN ORDINARY PERSON TO AN EXTRAORDINARY TEACHER.

About MindGym

MindGym Philippines is a learning center directed by educators with the passion to teach, learn, care, and share the best!
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